


the rumours about peter parker

by tempestaurora



Series: hydra's not a home [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Field Trip, Gen, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Stark Industries, field trip to stark industries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 16:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15952844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempestaurora/pseuds/tempestaurora
Summary: “No way,” Flash said, when he heard. “Stark Industries doesn’t even hire high schoolers.”Peter shrugged, schooling his face to remain unbothered. “Yet here I am.”So the rumour spread that Peter Parker, top of the class and the only competent member of the track team, had a Stark Industries internship. That made it more difficult when Miss Adler, the Chemistry teacher, announced their field trip there.ORIt's the Stark Industries Field Trip AU and I know we're all here for this one





	the rumours about peter parker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [al_hub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/al_hub/gifts).



> this will not be the worst stark industries field trip au you've ever read, and yet it will probably not be the best, either. it will sit right in the middle, as peter has no spiderman secret to keep safe yet, but the avengers always want to hang out with him and defy orders if possible.
> 
> as a part of a series, you'll probably understand everything a whole lot better if you read from the beginning.
> 
> this one goes out to al_hub bc i always love to see your comments!
> 
> enjoy lads

They had to lie when people caught sight of the car that picked up Peter every day after school. Driven by a chauffeur, a sleek black Audi that sat idle, waiting for Peter Parker. Of course, people would get curious – especially when someone caught sight of the driver’s face.

“That’s Happy Hogan,” someone said. “He’s, like, Tony Stark’s bodyguard.”

Apparently, Happy Hogan was somewhat of a known figure. If you were in a thousand press photos with Tony Stark, you’d be vaguely recognisable too.

“How the fuck do you know Happy Hogan?” Flash asked (accosted was more the word) when Peter arrived for Academic Decathlon on a Thursday. Peter joined clubs purely because he didn’t want to spend all his time at the house – school was the only reason he could go outside, what with being under the watchful eye of the Starks and SHIELD, and there was some form of parole going on for the ex-HYDRA agent. So he joined all the clubs Ned liked, so he’d know someone: robotics, band and Decathlon. He also joined track, because Coach Wilson wouldn’t let up on him joining a sports team and running seemed the most inconspicuous.

Peter shrugged and ducked away from Flash’s questioning. He kept his face devoid of emotion and sat down at a table, pulling out a textbook to read while he waited his turn to be quizzed.

“Hey,” Flash said, following after him. “I’m talking to you.”

“I heard,” Peter replied. “I’m just not talking to _you_.”

Still, the question hung, unanswered in the air. Peter figured Flash wouldn’t be the last one to question it, so he brought it up when he returned to the house, right on the border of Manhattan.

“I’m being asked how I know Happy,” he said at dinner. Pepper made something with spaghetti, because Peter liked spaghetti. There was some kind of sauce from a jar and Peter had decidedly not been allowed to help, due to what they referred as The Soup Incident.

“And what did you say?” Tony asked. His phone was sitting on the table, and Tony was splitting his attention in a 60-40 way between it and the people around him.

“I didn’t say anything,” Peter replied, “but they’re curious how I know Tony Stark’s bodyguard.”

“Technically, he’s asset management now,” Tony replied, not looking up from the phone.

Pepper reached over Tony’s dinner to swipe the phone, making Peter supress a laugh at Tony’s face.

“Fine,” Tony conceded. “If they ask, say you’re… I don’t know, an intern at SI.”

Peter quirked an eyebrow. “An intern?”

“Yeah, they’re unpaid staff and sometimes we recruit outstanding high schoolers,” Pepper replied. “Actually, on that note, we should probably be paying the interns.”

“FRIDAY can put that on a to do list,” Tony agreed. “But, yeah, kid. Just say you’ve got an internship and Happy drives you there. Make something up – you’re good at lying, right?”

Peter shrugged. “I suppose so.” There was a difference between being good at lying and _enjoying_ the lie. Natasha Romanoff, as far as Peter could tell, enjoyed telling lies and watching people fall for them – just like how Peter was rather sure that ‘Natasha Romanoff’ wasn’t even her real name (but he was working on finding the truth buried there). Peter, on the other hand, lied like the best of them, but he didn’t enjoy it. He didn’t like the strange feeling that swelled in his chest when people bought whatever shit he spewed.

Like when Ned believed that he couldn’t ever visit Peter’s house because it was too far away, not because it was a safehouse to keep his ex-HYDRA ass secure. Peter didn’t like how easily Ned accepted whatever Peter said, as if he was seen as trustworthy in the other boy’s eyes.

(Peter had never before been trustworthy. HYDRA agents, as a rule, didn’t believe half of the things that everyone around them said. No one was trustworthy in a house of rats.)

“Great,” Tony said. “And it’s like, half true anyway. You help me out in the lab all the time.”

So when he was accosted once more, twice more, thrice more, Peter just said that he had an internship was all. Happy Hogan would pick him up, cart him off to a lab, and he’d work on whatever he was assigned.

“No fucking way,” Flash said, when he heard. “Stark Industries doesn’t even hire high schoolers.”

Peter shrugged, schooling his face to remain unbothered. “Yet here I am.”

“No, you’re not,” Flash retorted. They were drawing attention in the hallway, like usual. Flash had decided that the strangely strong new kid who didn’t fight back was somehow a good target, and Peter didn’t exactly mind. Since that first day in gym, Flash had stopped hassling Ned in favour of insulting Peter, and Peter didn’t want it to go back to the old ways. “I’ve applied for the SI internship before-”

“Maybe you just didn’t get in,” Michelle commented, appearing by Peter’s side. While she still would not allow Peter to call her MJ, despite them being a solid three months into the school year, Michelle acted a lot more like a friend than Peter expected.

So the rumour spread that Peter Parker, top of the class and the only competent member of the track team, had a Stark Industries internship. That made it more difficult when Miss Adler, the Chemistry teacher, announced their field trip there.

“Oh shit,” Peter muttered, under his breath.

 

-

 

He placed the permission slip down a little too hard on the kitchen table, but Pepper didn’t look up from where she read emails on her tablet.

“Have a good day at school?” she asked.

“Oh, just marvellous.”

“That’s nice, sweetie.”

Peter slumped into the chair opposite her and watched Pepper’s internal debate before dragging her eyes from the screen. They studied Peter’s expression for a moment before landing on the slip.

“What’s that?”

“A field trip permission slip,” Peter replied.

“Ooh, where are you going?”

“Stark Tower.”

Pepper froze. She seemed to be analysing the situation from all points of view – Peter could imagine her judging it logistically, from a PR perspective, and emotionally, from Peter’s. She seemed to decide it wasn’t so bad.

“We’ll get you a lanyard in advance,” she decided, “so it looks like you work there and not in Tony’s personal lab. The Avengers don’t live there anymore, but its where they congregate during the day, so we’ll inform them to act like they don’t know you, or only peripherally. Oh, and I’ll add your name to the intern list there, so officially you’re an employee.”

Peter couldn’t help but smile. Pepper Stark had a thousand answers to every question. She signed the permission slip under the false name they’d given to the school before sliding it back over to her.

“I’ll talk with Tony about how FRIDAY should react to your being there, and we’ll give a heads up to SHIELD, as officially, I don’t think you’re allowed in the building.”

“ _What?_ ”

Pepper shrugged, turning back to her tablet to signal the conversation ending. “I’m not sure, it’s something to do with the ten years of being raised as a terrorist. We have pastries on the counter if you’re hungry.”

 

-

 

“I can’t believe you work at Stark Industries,” Ned gushed for probably the hundredth time. They’d just handed back their permission slips to Miss Adler at the beginning of class. “What kind of stuff do you get to work on?”

Peter shrugged. “Nothing big. I just help out and do what I’m told, you know? Besides, even if I did work on anything big, I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

“Why not?”

“NDAs and all that.” This had become a cherished excuse for Peter, who hadn’t fully fleshed out the lie of being an intern. NDAs were his hero at this point.

Ned nodded, solemn, then his eyes lit up. “Have you met Tony Stark yet?”

“Once,” Peter lied. “Barely.”

“Yeah, right,” Flash groaned, taking his seat in front of Peter. “I bet the closest you’ve ever been to Tony Stark is watching him on the TV.”

Despite the prevalent rumour that Peter had the internship, there was another one circling – that he didn’t. Even the teachers didn’t fully seem to buy the idea; a new kid who has been home schooled their whole life shows up with top grades and a coveted internship? Something had to be going on.

Peter took solace in the fact that while they were suspicious, they were suspicious about the entirely wrong thing.

 

-

 

The day of the field trip crept up on him so slowly that Peter didn’t realise the date until it was right there in front of him. It was the last week of the semester, half way through December. They had the field trip and then one day at school and then they were free for a few weeks. Peter was dreading being stuck inside again.

The morning of the field trip, Pepper waited for Peter to wake up rather than heading off to work at the crack of dawn.

“Okay,” she said, sitting down opposite him at the kitchen table. A few months previous, they’d hidden from the sprinklers in this spot. The three of them had been sinking into their new roles as a family, but slowly, giving themselves time and space to stretch first. “This is your lanyard. It’s fully linked to FRIDAY’s system and gives you level seven access across the tower.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Peter replied, before stuffing a spoonful of Lucky Charms into his mouth. Secretly, Peter thought the worst thing about HYDRA was their lack of colourful, sugary cereals.

“It means that you have the level access required for a personal intern to Tony,” she replied, matter-of-factly. “You don’t have access everywhere, but you _do_ have access to the places someone in your position would need to have. You also have temporary command of emergency protocols.” Peter raised his eyebrows at her. “It’s just a safety feature. You haven’t been anywhere other than here or school in over four months – if there’s any trouble, it could happen today. The emergency protocols are the same for the ones here that we had you memorise.”

“You didn’t have to do all this, you know.”

“Of course we did,” Pepper replied. “We told you to lie about having an internship to throw off suspicion, so we’re going to make it look like you have an internship. Speaking of which, I told my assistant, Anna, about Tony having a PA too, so word would spread about you.”

“How does that make word spread?” Peter asked.

“Anna is a total gossip. I was down in R&D last week and was asked three times about when the staff there would get to meet Tony’s infamous teenage intern. If anyone asks, they’ve heard of you but not met you.”

Peter had to admit, Pepper Stark had him covered.

“I’ll be in the tower all day,” she promised. “If there’s any emergencies, ask FRIDAY to get me and I’ll be there. Got it?”

“Got it,” Peter agreed.

 

-

 

On the bus ride to Stark Tower, Peter resolutely ignored Flash’s taunts and answered Ned and Michelle’s questions as vaguely as possible. He hadn’t ever stepped foot in the tower before and Peter wished he’d had the thought to at least look up a layout of the building before the trip. His mother was every bit organised that he wasn’t.

Eventually, the bus pulled up outside the monolith that was Stark Tower and a hush fell over the students. It was even taller than Peter had expected; one hundred floors jutting out into the sky. He could picture how the wormhole swirled above it only a few years previous; aliens falling from the sky.

Miss Adler led the way in and Peter tried to calm his face as he caught sight of the large glass and chrome atrium. People in suits milled about and Peter tallied up the number of SHIELD agents he caught sight of in the lobby alone. At least four, he decided. The only way Fury had even allowed Peter to step foot in the building was if he had agents in there, too.

Peter Parker was being babysat by the world’s most secretive spy organisation and that was a surreal thought to have.

Eventually, a woman walked up to their group with a basket of lanyards in her hands. She wore a large smile and a professional dress and blazer.

“Midtown?” she asked upon arrival. At the teacher’s nod and introduction, she looked out across them all. “Welcome to Stark Industries! My name is Amy and I’ll be your tour guide today. Before we begin, I’m going to hand out lanyards with security badges on them. You’re to wear these at all times and you _must_ keep them visible. If you lose your badge, you’ll be escorted off the premises – only one badge is printed per person and no reprints are handed out, even for staff. When I call your name, please come and collect one.”

Amy dutifully listed off all the names on her list and the class stepped forward, one at a time, to take their badge. After, Flash frowned.

“Hey,” he said. “Why didn’t Parker get one?”

Amy looked at Flash and then back to her list. “Peter Parker?” she asked. Peter, standing at the back with Ned and Michelle, raised a hand. “My list says you already have a badge. Is this correct?”

Peter nodded and held up the lanyard Pepper had presented him with that morning. Amy smiled like this solved everything, and Peter pulled on the lanyard, following as she gestured them along. Flash just glared over Cindy Moon’s head.

“Stark Industries was founded in 1939 by Howard Stark, a great pioneer in different types of technology, who often helped the United States Armed Forces with new and innovate weapons, such as the Super Soldier Serum that created Captain America. After Stark’s death in 1991, Obadiah Stane was appointed interim CEO until Tony Stark, Howard’s only child, officially assumed the position shortly after turning 21.”

“Wasn’t Stane a terrorist?” one student called out.

To give her credit, Amy’s smile didn’t falter for a second as she led them to the elevator. “Obadiah Stane is the stain on this company’s legacy,” she replied in a scripted sort of way. “He conspired to kill Tony Stark and is assumed the mastermind behind Stark’s son disappearing too, however that was never confirmed.” Peter didn’t let it slip by him that she didn’t answer the question.

“Under Tony Stark’s control, the company flourished for over a decade before he appointed Pepper Potts as CEO. Since then, they have brought Stark Industries into a new era of technology, away from weapon trade and toward creating a better and cleaner planet.”

The elevator doors opened upon Amy swiping her card across a pad.

“If you could all swipe your cards before you enter the elevator, then we’ll go up at see the first of the labs that we’ll tour today.”

One by one, the students swiped their cards. Flash held back a little, to hiss “I bet your fake-ass card won’t even work, Penis,” before darting forward to be the next one in. When Peter swiped his card, however, the light shone green for him, just like it had for everyone else.

“Hey, Peter?” Abe asked when he stepped into the lift. “Why does your card look different to ours?”

Peter shrugged. “I intern here, remember?”

The elevator doors slid shut behind them and Amy called out the floor number before they started moving.

“What level badge is that?” Cindy asked, leaning forward to take a look.

“Seven, I think,” Peter replied.

“Seven?” Flash questioned. “For an _intern_? Miss, what level cards do interns usually get?”

“Four as a default,” Amy replied, seemingly not bothered by the insinuations being made. “But different interns are given different levels to match their responsibilities.”

“How high does the level system go?” someone called out.

“Ten,” Amy replied. “One being the lowest, for visitors, and ten being the highest, for only Tony and Pepper Stark.”

“What do the Avengers have?” Ned asked, wide-eyed.

“The Avengers tend to have level nine security access, seeing as they lived in the compound and come to the tower regularly. They need to be able to access the private floors on level eighty-seven and above.”

The doors slid open and the class filed out into a long corridor, with glass windows separating them from the labs on either side. The corridor seemed to curl around corners, with offices and laboratories lined up along the edges.

“On this floor,” Amy started, moving out ahead of the group, “we have scientists working largely on Arc Reactor technology, as well as creating the future of clean energy.” She rambled on and Peter peered through the glass at the people in lab coats, trying to recreate the technology that Tony had made.

They moved back to the elevator soon after, to go to another lab, where they could walk through as the scientists worked on new inventions and Stark Industries products. It was partially a testing floor, too, and the students got to try out a prototype for the next StarkPhone, Ned insisting that they compared it to the new one that Peter had in his pocket.

“It’s thinner, look!” he announced in awe. Peter’s phone was already incredibly thin, so even he was impressed that they’d managed to shave a millimetre or two off.

“They must’ve made the battery thinner,” Peter replied, taking the prototype in his hands. “That’s the thickest part of the phone. It wouldn’t surprise me if they managed to up the energy and decrease the size – or if they made the battery larger, but thinner.”

“Both good guesses,” someone said from behind him. Peter glanced over his shoulder to see the man Amy introduced as the Lab Director walking towards them. He moved around to the other side of the table before he continued. “We actually took a page out of Stark’s Arc Reactor book,” he said. “Phone’s aren’t pollutants until they’re thrown out. The contents of a battery are acidic at best, so by looking to create a battery that would be more agreeable with the environment, we actually found a way to reduce the size, too.” Peter nodded, spinning the phone in his hands. Before he had a chance to respond, the Lab Director started up again. “I’m Gregory Davis, and you are?”

“Peter Parker,” he replied.

“Ned Leeds,” Ned added, grinning.

“Nice to meet you both,” Davis said before pausing. “Peter Parker. Why is that name familiar?”

“Peter works as an intern here,” Ned said before Peter had a chance to speak.

Davis clapped his hands together with a smile, and Peter noticed Flash’s presence in his periphery. “Of course! I heard all about you! We’ve been asking to meet Stark’s intern for weeks! I heard the improvements to durability of the Haz-Tech Exoskeleton were your doing.”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, nodding his head. “Yeah, it was just something I was messing around with. It’s cool that it worked out.” He’d been waiting for Tony to get home so they could work on the Iron Man suit, and had been mindlessly flicking through the old designs. It was something he thought of on a whim, and when he asked FRIDAY to run a simulation, it was successful. Tony had arrived only a few minutes later, before throwing a collection of other files at him, to see if there was anything he could do with fresh eyes on the projects.

“Cool that it worked out?” Davis asked. “Don’t sell yourself so short. We hadn’t even realised there was a problem with the joint mechanisms, or a way to make them better.”

A moment later, Amy was calling for them to leave, but Peter noticed Flash hang back, and could hear his question to Davis.

“So, you’ve never actually met Peter before?”

“Oh, no. He doesn’t work here in the tower, as far as I know. I heard he works in Stark’s private labs – I’d _kill_ to see those.”

 

-

 

All in all, the day was going well. Flash had enough common sense not to insult or pester Peter when there were staff members in hearing range, and Peter hadn’t run into any major problems with his cover story. A few other interns who’d discovered his name had laughed, when questioned by the students, and called him a ghost.

“We heard a lot about him through the grapevine, but I was starting to think it was just a joke!” one had said. “But here he is, Stark’s personal intern – we didn’t even know he was in the market for one of those.”

Even Adler, who seemed suspicious at most of his internship, had congratulated him on the apparent waves he’d made.

Throughout the building, Peter caught sight of no less than twenty-four SHIELD agents. No one else noticed them, though, and Peter occasionally sent them finger guns or winks, just to let them know they weren’t all that inconspicuous.

It was at lunch when, after everyone had come to the conclusion that Peter Parker didn’t know anyone in Stark Tower, that the story got a little twisted.

They’d been led to the cafeteria on floor forty-three, and Peter was sat beside Ned and across from Michelle as they ate. Everyone else stretched out across other tables, mostly near the windows where they could have an expansive view of Manhattan.

They were only half way through lunch when his name was called.

“Hey, Pete!”

Peter turned around with a frown, finding Clint Barton striding over, Natasha Romanoff in toe. He knew there were eyes on them now, and could faintly hear Natasha mumbling under her breath, “We were supposed to act like we didn’t know him.”

Trust Clint to defy orders.

Clint landed heavily in the seat beside Peter, and Peter smiled despite himself. Nat sat on the table and seeing that he wasn’t put off by their presence, greeted him.

“Afternoon, mой ребенок-паук,” Natasha said.

Peter rolled his eyes. “мать-паук,” he responded with a nod, making Natasha crack a smile. _My little spider_ and _Mother spider_ were the only pet names they’d allowed for each other.

“Dude,” Ned whispered, eyes wide and staring right at the two Avengers at their table. “I don’t know what to ask about first. How you know _the_ Hawkeye and Black Widow or how the hell you speak _Russian_.”

Peter spoke Russian because a lot of people on the HYDRA base did. Occasionally, Bucky, Nat and he would have conversations only in that language, much to the annoyance of everyone else in the room. Clint’s Russian was mediocre at best, but he knew all the rude words so he always laughed when they pretended to insult other people in the room.

Peter nodded. “I’d start with the avengers, personally.”

“Agreed,” Michelle said from across the table. For once, her nose wasn’t in a book, instead eyeing the avengers with a mix of half-hearted interest and disdain.

“Mm,” Natasha hummed. “I’d start with introductions, myself.”

“Oh, yeah,” Clint agreed. “I want to meet all your little friends.”

“Ned, Michelle,” Peter said, gesturing to them both in turn. “That’s it. That’s all of them.”

Clint grinned, making a point to shake hands with the both of them, before reaching over and swiping Peter’s apple. He didn’t mind. He wasn’t going to eat it anyway.

“Are you enjoying your field trip?” he asked, as if every eye in the room wasn’t plastered on them.

Peter shrugged. “Sure. The labs are pretty cool. I never get to see actual regular work being done.”

“I bet Stark keeps you busy with his pet projects, though,” Nat replied. This was true. If Peter wasn’t doing school work, reading one of the books from the mountain he’d been presented with, or being given cooking lessons from Pepper, he was in the lab with Tony, tinkering on whatever it was that caught the mechanic’s attention that week.

“Anyway,” Clint said, tossing the apple and catching it. “We’re just here to say hi and defy Pepper’s direct orders to ignore you.”

“She’ll make you pay for that,” Peter mused.

“I don’t doubt it,” Natasha replied. “Which is why we should go before the punishment becomes too much for our little Bird Brain over here to handle.”

It was only after they were gone, striding back out of the cafeteria, that Peter dared to look around. Every eye of his classmates’ was on him.

“For someone who said they didn’t know the Avengers,” Abe commented from the next table over, “you seem to be awfully familiar with the Avengers.”

Peter shrugged. “NDAs and all that.”

 

-

 

Of course, because two Avengers broke the rules, that meant the rest of them could do it too. Which was why, as they resumed the tour in the Avengers exhibition on the twentieth floor, the door slid open and five real life Avengers entered.

Wanda, Vision, Sam, Bucky and Steve.

The back of Peter’s neck tingled and he knew this would cause more questions than answers, especially when Bucky locked eyes with him and strode over, past the forming crowd of students.

“Peter,” he said with something of a smile.

“Hey, Buck,” Peter replied, standing in front of the Captain America exhibit. It held his old suit from the Battle of New York, as well as an old, partially completed shield.

“Legolas informed me that he’d interrupted your field trip and hellfire hadn’t consumed him. We thought we’d give it a go, too.”

Next to him, Ned was practically hyperventilating. When Bucky noticed this, he frowned and looked to Peter.

“Is he okay?”

“The Winter Soldier just asked if I’m okay,” Ned gushed, his voice choked. “This is the best day of my life.”

“Hey, Ned,” Peter said. “You realise Captain America’s over there, right?”

Ned nodded. “I’ve forgotten how to use my legs.”

Peter grinned, wrapping an arm around Ned’s shoulders and pulling him along. “Come on, Bucky,” Peter said as he went.

“After you, мальчик-убийца,” Bucky said. It translated to _assassin boy_ and that was better left unsaid when Ned asked what it meant.

“It’s a Russian form of endearment,” Peter told him with a wave of his hand.

“Why does the Winter Soldier have a Russian form of endearment for you?” Ned asked.

Peter shrugged. “People who speak Russian just like me, I suppose.”

That wasn’t an answer but there wasn’t time for any more questions as they reached the crowd of classmates, taking photos with the Avengers. A few caught Bucky, now he was back, and he bent awkwardly to the side to fit in the frame with them.

“Hey, Peter!” Steve said when he saw him.

“Mr Good and Righteous,” Peter replied instinctually, trying to ignore the incredulous looks he suddenly received. “This is my friend, Ned.”

The Avengers had all heard about Ned to some degree. The ones that visited the newly reformed Stark family more often knew that Ned was just about Peter’s only friend, if you didn’t count Bucky. Peter’s relationships with the other Avengers were more precarious and uncertain; while the spies got along with him naturally, they spoke most often about weaponry and strategy and not, well, friend things. Steve’s relationship to Peter was based on Steve wanting to see Peter grow into someone good, and Peter enjoying the look Steve gave him whenever Peter swore or sassed him. Sam liked to pretend that Peter was the most annoying kid in the world, but Peter had also seen his fond smile when Sam had thought he wasn’t looking.

Wanda and Vision barely spoke to Peter at all and they certainly didn’t visit the house. Still, they smiled at him anyway between photos and autographs with the other students.

“It’s good to meet you, Ned,” Steve said, shaking Ned’s hand. “Peter’s told me a lot about you.”

Ned made some sort of choking sound that made Peter grin. Before either of them had a chance to respond, Flash appeared by their side.

“You’re telling me you _know_ Parker?” he asked, looking almost enraged at the thought. Peter wondered what must’ve been going through his head. Maybe _oh shit I picked on the kid who’s friends with super soldiers._ Peter couldn’t wait until Flash Thompson found out about his powers-

He pushed that thought away and put a pin in it. _Why would I want anyone to know about my powers?_

“Sure do,” Steve replied.

Flash spluttered. “But-but _how?_ ”

“He works in Tony’s lab, so I see him whenever I stop by.”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed, moving to Steve’s side. “We hang out a little though – we watched all the _Star Wars_ movies like twice during the summer, right kid?”

Peter nodded and watched Ned slowly turn to Peter, jaw hanging loose. Clearly, he remembered Peter talking about this.

“You didn’t say you watched _Star Wars_ with _the Winter Soldier_ ,” he gushed.

“You didn’t ask,” Peter pointed out with a shrug. “Anyway-”

“Alright, Midtown!” Amy’s voice could be heard over the chattering of the class. “Say thank you to the Avengers for their impromptu visit and we’ll be heading off to the Stark Industries exhibition upstairs.”

The class chorused their thanks and the Avengers moved aside to let them go.

“We still on for this weekend, Parker?” Bucky asked, maybe a little too loud for his classmates not to notice. They had plans to watch all the _Fast and Furious_ movies in one go – neither of them had seen them before, but they were promised a lot of fast cars and gunfights, which they both liked in their real lives as well as their fiction.

“Sure are, Barnes,” Peter responded without looking back. He was just focused on how the class eyed him, like they’d never actually known Peter Parker at all.

 

-

 

The day went from good, to questionable, to pretty damn bad soon after.

It started with the lights cutting out. A moment later, they came back on in a neon red that screamed _danger_ down Peter’s spine. He swallowed as Amy’s placating voice rang in his ear.

“It’s alright!” she said. “I’m sure this is just a power cut.” _The Arc Reactor technology makes power cuts almost impossible._ “FRIDAY,” she said, looking up to the ceiling. “Can you tell us what’s happening?”

“There appears to be an attack on the lower levels,” FRIDAY responded without preamble. Worried whispers broke out across the students. “You are to stay here until you receive further instruction.”

The AI went silent, so Flash piped up. “Doesn’t that elevator go through all the floors?” he asked. “Doesn’t that mean they can reach us?”

Amy couldn’t hide her fear, Peter noticed. She eyed the elevator on the other side of the exhibition, her hands shaking. She didn’t respond and that just made the students panic more.

While Miss Adler tried to calm them, Peter’s mind moved a mile a minute. He’d caught sight of over twenty SHIELD agents on the premises – each of them would be armed. There were also six Avengers on site. They had pretty good odds, but the elevator was a worry.

“FRIDAY,” Peter said. “Is there a more secure room we could move to? Away from the elevator?”

“I’m sorry, Peter,” FRIDAY replied, “but the lockdown protocol has been initiated. You cannot leave this room until it’s lifted.”

No one even cared why the AI knew Peter’s name. He thought fast on his feet. “Are you saying there _is_ a more secure room on this level, though?”

“Yes,” FRIDAY said. “At the far end of the exhibition, there is a storage room big enough to fit the class.”

“But it’s inaccessible?”

“The storage room contains prototypes of the display exhibition, and so is automatically sealed during a lockdown.”

“FRIDAY,” Amy said, suddenly getting her nerve back. “Where are the intruders currently?”

“I do not have eyes on them,” the AI replied. “My cameras are going offline one by one. I do not believe them to be above level thirteen.” _That’s close_ , Peter thought. They were on the twenty-first.

“And the SHIELD agents in the building?” Peter asked.

“Their locations are classified,” FRIDAY responded.

“There are SHIELD agents in the building?” Miss Adler asked. “How could you know that?”

“I saw them,” Peter said, looking around the room. “They’re not subtle.”

Peter Parker tended to think better in high stress situations. He saw a lot of options: climbing down the outside of the building to take out the intruders; waiting in the exhibition and hoping they’d be passed by; holding out hope that the Avengers could navigate the tower despite the lockdown. He wasn’t sure if they could. He wasn’t sure if the SHIELD agents could. He wasn’t sure if Iron Man could get here in time to help, if he was alerted.

Peter made a list of priorities, then decided he didn’t like the order of it. What was Steve always telling him? _We put the lives of others above our own._ Right. Save the civilians first. He shoved his class to the top of the list, above finding Pepper and taking down the intruders himself.

“FRIDAY,” he said. “I want the storage room unlocked.”

“I’m sorry, Peter, I can’t do that.”

“Initiate Baby Knows Best Protocol.”

“Please say your name.”

“Peter Parker.”

There was a pause, then: “The storage room is unlocked. Please proceed in an orderly fashion inside and shut the door, so it can be put back under lockdown procedure.”

“Come on,” Amy said, ushering the students away from the centre of the room. “Follow me. Quickly.”

The class ran through the exhibit, Amy opening the storage room door for them and letting everyone in before her. When Peter hesitated outside the door, she tugged him in.

“There’s no time to play the hero,” she said. “If one of you gets even a papercut on this tour, I’m toast.”

Peter stepped into the storage room. When Amy shut the door, FRIDAY confirmed it was once again locked.

The storage room wasn’t small, but it wasn’t expansive. It seemed to contain various technology – Peter caught sight of a dormant Iron Man suit in a secure case, as well as boxes marked up with the names of the Avengers and their weapons.

“ETA on the intruders,” Peter said when the class had quietened.

“Unsure. Cameras are down on level nineteen.”

“That’s two below us,” Flash said. There was fear in his voice. There was fear in everyone’s.

Peter wasn’t scared, necessarily. He was nervous, as he didn’t have his web shooters (nor throwing knives gifted to him by Nat), and only his civilian clothes. He didn’t need the Black Spider suit to fight, never did, but he’d prefer it over jeans and converse.

He was about to open his mouth to ask after Pepper, but Peter stopped himself. He had a cover story and so far that story hadn’t once involved Pepper Stark. He pulled out his phone, instead, typing at quick message.

**_PETER:_ ** _are u in the tower??_

It was only a moment later that a text shot back.

**_PEPPER:_ ** _Safe room in the penthouse level. Where are you?_

**_PETER:_ ** _storage room in the SI exhibition_

Overhead, FRIDAY announced: “The cameras for floor twenty-one have gone out. Please stay where you are, as I no longer have eyes on the situation.”

**_PEPPER:_ ** _Are you safe?_

**_PETER:_ ** _debatable_

**_PETER:_ ** _but i’ll have to deal with it if anything goes wrong_

“FRIDAY,” Peter said, turning from his phone. “ETA on the Avengers.”

“I do not have eyes on Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow and the Winter Soldier. They went below floor nineteen. Falcon is outside the building, as is Vision and Scarlet Witch. Iron Man is two minutes out.”

FRIDAY went quiet and so did the class. Through the door, there was the sound of muffled voices. They didn’t stick around long, disappearing after only a few seconds. Peter stared at the boxes lining the walls. They weren’t just full of old weapons and outfits – this was the floor of the SI exhibition; Peter noticed the containment cases of revolutionary tech, of disabled bombs and-

The voices sounded through the door again.

_Shit_.

Peter ran the figures through his head; a building with incredibly high security, that keeps all the weaponry higher up _apart_ from the ones in the exhibitions. Sure, they’re disabled, and in some cases, broken, but they’re _fixable_. If Peter had one of those missiles in his hands for twenty minutes, he could probably get it working again.

Floor twenty-one. The lowest place in the building that these weapons would be keep, in a room that automatically locks down during an attack.

“How many floors of cameras are down?” Peter whispered.

“Twenty-three,” FRIDAY replied, equally quiet.

Peter could hear footsteps.

Outside the door, there was muffled voices and footsteps. People. Their voices were angry, rushed. The class pushed to the back of the room, away from the door – but there wasn’t another exit; no vents to climb through, no doors or windows.

Peter stayed at the front and eyed the boxes.

Only a moment later, there was the sound of a drill.

“Peter,” FRIDAY said, “I have received a notice that the locking mechanism on the door is attempting to be disabled.”

“Yeah, I got that, thanks,” Peter muttered. “Is anyone coming to get us?”

“Iron Man is headed straight for your location. One minute out. It seems that other Avengers are participating in other attacks throughout the lower tower.”

Amy, the tour guide, spoke up. “How long until they get through that door?”

“Unsure,” FRIDAY replied. The AI paused, then said: “Peter, Mrs Stark has given you the go ahead. Protocol At Least We Didn’t Have to Pay for Karate Lessons.”

“Oh, thank God,” Peter breathed. He hadn’t even thought about getting the all clear. If they’d come through that door, Peter was going to do whatever it took to take out the intruders.

He shoved Flash to the side to get to the boxes and tore open the one that said _BLACK WIDOW_ on the side. Her weapons would be easiest to fall back on. Inside were defunct and disabled widow bites, a broken gun from some battle she’d been in, a set of brass knuckles and a knife. Peter yanked out the knuckles and knife and moved back to the front of the crowd.

“What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do with that?” Flash hissed.

Peter shrugged. “Save your asses.”

When the drilling stopped, the door immediately swung open. Men in black. Why was it always men in black?

Peter couldn’t see their faces, but their body language hinted that they were surprised. He took the advantage before he lost it.

As the front one reached for their gun, Peter darted forward, punching him in the jaw with the knuckles and swinging out a leg to hack at the back of his knee. Peter slammed his elbow down into the space between his neck and shoulder, not watching him fall to the ground as he rounded on the next.

Peter tore the gun from his hands, throwing it to the side and ducking out of the way of a surprise punch from behind. The shiver that ran through his neck pulled him to the side. The knife switched hands and Peter embedded it in one guy’s shoulder before throwing him into the other.

_Don’t kill them, don’t kill them, don’t kill them._

He’d never had to tell himself that before.

There were more after, and Peter forced the thought from his mind that his class was watching him do this. He didn’t care about that, anyway. He was so far ahead of high school – the only reason he was there was to keep up an appearance.

He’d lost the knife in someone’s flesh, so Peter focused on breaking legs and punching hard enough to knock them out but not shatter their skull. _Eyes, knees, throat._ The Winter Soldier had drilled that into him in one sparring session a few years previous. He thought it in Bucky’s voice as he punched a man in the Adam’s apple.

It was then that the windows shattered and a flying suit of armour in red and gold burst into the room. It took down the only standing intruder left in the room before landing. Peter, surrounded by the bodies of at least ten men, looked over to Iron Man.

His face plate retracted. “Could’ve told me you didn’t need my help,” Tony said.

Peter shrugged. “I totally wouldn’t have gotten that last guy. That’s all you. He was my white whale; I never stood a chance.”

Tony cracked a smile and rolled his eyes, looking across the damage. He looked to the cowering students in the storage room, and the smile faded from his face. His expression was something of concern.

“FRIDAY, are there any intruders left in the building?”

“My cameras are still down on floors twenty-three and below, but all Avengers have sounded off their areas as clear, as have all present SHIELD agents.”

Tony nodded, looking back to Peter. “You okay?” he asked.

Peter dropped the knuckles where he stood, the first wave of fatigue falling over him. He nodded but checked anyway. He didn’t see any blood; just felt the places that would bruise over. A few guys had caught lucky punches, but none of their bullets had landed.

“Just peachy,” Peter replied. “I do have some suggestions about future storing places for Avengers tech, though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony said, waving a hand. “Everyone’s a critic.”

The students were all shaking and Peter tried to ignore the looks in their eyes. They were grateful for his timing, but there was still fear in there. Like they were afraid of him, too. But there was no part of Peter that would’ve changed what he’d done. He’d let the HYDRA agent out to save lives-

No, Peter thought. The HYDRA agent inside him wouldn’t have saved anyone. The HYDRA agent would’ve taken a hostage, or blown someone’s brains out, or hidden at the back of the storage room to let everyone else be put in danger before them. This was something different; this was Peter being the _good guy_ and knowing it was right.

There was that thought from earlier on – the concept of using his powers again. It seemed to slot into place beside this feeling like they belonged together. Using his powers for good. Like the Avengers did – like _Tony_ did.

“So, a lot of highly classified things just happened in a matter of minutes,” Tony said to the class as they left the storage room.

“And they were _awesome_ ,” Ned breathed. Peter met his eye and noticed a difference there; Ned wasn’t afraid of Peter, wasn’t afraid of what he’d seen Peter do. Ned smiled and it felt like reassurance.

“ _No_ ,” Tony corrected, breaking the moment. “It was not _awesome_. It was dangerous and highly classified. We’re all very lucky that Peter was present. But we would like to keep that little fact a secret.”

Peter, despite being the hero for once, understood. The others didn’t.

“We can’t tell anyone that Peter saved us?” Ned asked.

Tony shook his head. “No. Peter doesn’t need that kind of attention. It’ll just cause problems. Once the lockdown is over, we’ll take you to a conference room, you’ll sign some papers, you’ll be told that either Iron Man saved the day or some SHIELD agents did.”

“We’re supposed to lie?” Cindy called out.

“Yes,” Tony said. “But it’s fine. That’s fine. It’ll all be explained.”

“That’s so weird,” Ned whispered, coming up by Peter’s side. “Don’t you mind that people won’t know what you did?”

Peter shrugged. It was better for everyone if his name wasn’t blasted across the six-o-clock news. “Not really,” he replied. “NDAs and all that.”

 

-

 

Despite the NDAs, there was a rumour in Midtown High that Peter Parker not only worked at Stark Industries as the personal intern to Tony Stark, but that he’d saved everyone’s lives during the attack the day before.

The way everyone looked at him made Peter glad he’d get a few weeks away.

His class had seen the way Pepper Stark had rushed into the conference room as they’d signed their waivers, looked around until she saw Peter and cupped his face, scrutinising every inch of it until she was happy with the result. No one knew the story there, either.

In fact, there were a lot of holes in the stories. Apparently, Peter knew Avengers, but he just shrugged whenever that came up, said something in Russian and walked away. Apparently, he could perform a perfect roundhouse kick, but when Coach Wilson suggested during gym that he join wrestling too, Peter said that he wasn’t one for fighting. _Apparently_ , the guy dropping him off at school in place of Happy Hogan that morning looked a lot like Sergeant Bucky Barnes, but no one could get a good enough look to be sure.

So Peter was a mystery and he liked that a lot. He liked the feeling of being unknowable, even if that meant he was also something of a mystery to himself. And while Flash didn’t bother him on that last day of the semester, because he too was still trying to figure out what precisely had happened the day before (and maybe because he was now aware that Peter Parker could truly kick his ass if he wanted to), Ned was still right there by his side, asking a thousand questions a minute, not stopping for breath.

When he asked if Peter wanted to come hang out at his over the school break, Peter nodded, smiled and was glad to have a friend like Ned. Anyway, if Peter wanted to think about using his powers for good, he figured Ned would be a great accomplice to have by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> the si field trip au is my all time favourite let me LIVE  
> but i also wanted to do it a little differently, as this whole hydra!peter au has taken the story down a different path. anyway this was super fun - i was gonna have a lot more flash bullying but honestly i just cant be bothered with writing petty conflict like that it saps my soul i don't care about bullies  
> if u have any fics you'd like to see in this series, let me know in the comments or on tempestaurora.tumblr.com
> 
> thanks for reading  
> pretty PLEASE talk to me in the comments  
> y'all know i live for that


End file.
